Cahokia

Cahokia (kəhōˈkēə) [key], village (1990 pop. 17,550), St. Clair co., SW Ill., a residential suburb of East St. Louis, on the Mississippi River; inc. 1927. The first permanent settlement in Illinois, Cahokia's name is derived from a local Native American group. The French established a mission in 1699 and a fur-trading post later. Cahokia was occupied by the British in 1765 and captured by the Americans under George Rogers Clark in 1778. It has several buildings dating from the 18th cent. Parks College, part of St. Louis Univ., is there. Nearby are the Cahokia Mounds.

American Indian Archaeological Sites - The American Indian archaeological record is one of the richest in the world. There are tens of thousands of American Indian sites in the Southwest alone, where the dry climate has preserved a remarkable range of evidence.